When 32 of the nation's best-known male TV presenters gathered for a photo shoot two weeks ago, they didn't expect to be used as the mouthpiece for a News Limited campaign against Stephen Conroy's media reforms, writes the ABC'sMichael Rowland.

"If we are serious about the national interest and the long-term outcomes for journalists, for regulators, for proprietors in making sure that they can continue to run a business sensibly, then this is madness the way we are rushing this," he told ABC News Breakfast.

"There's going to be plenty of people running around this House today and this week playing the whole 'kill the bill' exercise."

Mr Oakeshott says he is unlikely to vote for the reforms in their current guise.

"If the voting bells went right now I'd probably be on the negative side, but this is moving very fast," Mr Oakeshott said.

"I'm hearing... that there sounds like there's compromise on the table.

"In the end, what I think anyone's looking for is a good policy package, and based on its merits it's not there yet. So we'll see how today and the next few days pan out."

Fellow independent Andrew Wilkie is yet to make up his mind which way to vote, but says he has some concerns about the public interest media advocate - dubbed a 'media tsar' by some in the press - following complaints from media companies that it is an attack on free speech.

Most of the crossbenchers are unhappy with the way the legislation has been dealt with and none of them have yet said they will support it in a parliamentary vote.

Senator Conroy has refused to negotiate on the reforms and says they will be scrapped if they are not accepted in their current form.

"Five-and-a-half years this has been on the agenda. To suggest that this suddenly has come out of nowhere - when I've been campaigning for five-and-a-half years on the public interest test - is a nonsense," he told Insiders yesterday.

"The Parliament knows it's got a choice: if you want to ensure there is no further concentration in the media in this country, one of the already most concentrated, you vote for the bill.

"If you want to ensure that the Press Council upholds its own standards, you vote for the bill. Those are two very simple problems."

Proposed media reforms

The appointment of a Public Interest Media Advocate (PIMA) to oversee self-regulatory bodies such as the Press Council.

The PIMA, who will be appointed by the Minister, will decree whether a media complaints handling body is "authorised". Only media organisations that are members of an authorised body are able to maintain their exemptions to privacy laws.

The PIMA will also use a new public interest test to allow or prevent nationally significant media mergers.

An extension of the Government's commercial television licence fee rebate - saving free-to-air television networks an estimated $134 million this financial year.

A removal of the 75 per cent audience reach rule that prevents metropolitan television stations from owning partners in regional areas.

An update to the charters governing the ethics and behaviour of the ABC and SBS to reflect online and digital activities.